The Storyteller (1987) s01e08 Episode Script

The Heartless Giant

When people told themselves
their past with stories
explained their present with stories
foretold the future with stories
the best place by the fire was kept for
The Storyteller.
On the whole
there's absolutely no need
to be frightened of giants.
Giants are gentle, perfectly harmless,
very affectionate.
Unless, of course,
the giant has no heart in his body.
Think of all kinds of unpleasant things
and add "giant" to them
and that's what you get
when a giant has no heart.
Such a giant once terrorized a country
in the far north of the world,
near the very top.
He'd hidden his heart.
It gave him too much trouble,
all those giant feelings.
"In its place was a wasps" nest
about to swarm.
This giant could crack a skull
with his fist like a walnut
and frequently did.
Until, at last, the old
king of that country
as good as the giant was bad
trapped him in a giant trap
and locked him in a giant cell.
Good.
Very good.
And there he stayed for many a year.
And all would have been well
but for a small problem.
A small problem called Leo
youngest of the king's three sons.
He is so curious.
Now, there's a dark place
he's forbidden to visit.
His brothers tell him
a giant lives there with no heart
but he doesn't believe it.
I don't believe it.
Hello, down there.
Who's that?
Are you a giant?
Rattle once if you're a giant,
and twice if you're not.
Do you have a heart, then?
Once for yes, and twice for no.
A giant with no heart in his body.
The little prince runs off
his imagination ablaze, he's so excited.
There's a giant with no heart
living in the castle.
Next morning he's up at the crack
and running past his mother
- Leo, where are you off to?
- Nowhere.
- Can you hear me?
- Yes.
Why are you down there?
Because, long ago, I did some bad things.
This is my punishment.
I've been here for years and years.
Unless I'm let out soon, I will surely die.
- Don't worry, I'll go and tell my father.
- No. Don't tell anybody. Please.
Would you like to be my friend?
- Yes, please.
- Good.
- He's bad, that giant.
- Oh, yes.
Day after day,
the little prince comes visiting.
He wants to tell
the whole world about his friend.
But he can't
so he mustn't, so he won't.
And in the dark, dank,
black of the dungeon
the heartless giant plots and plans.
The keys to my locks,
do you know where they're kept?
- I don't. No.
- Long ago, a guard said
the king kept the keys by his bed.
Those keys?
They're huge, they're massive. I thought
they must be for the crown jewels.
No, they're for me.
They're for my misery.
Do you know something?
I think if I got those old keys
and let you out, nobody would even realise.
No, that's not right.
This is my punishment. I deserve it.
It's not fair that you're chained down
there. I bet that chain hurts your legs.
Only sometimes.
I don't care what you say.
I'm going to go and get those keys.
And so, that very night
Leo crept into the room
where the king and queen were sleeping.
It's me. I've got the keys.
Who goes there?
- Hurry.
- They're too big.
- They can't be. Push them.
- I'm trying.
Don't forget to let me have them back.
What's happening?
What's happened? Are we attacked?
- The giant, my lord, he's escaped.
- Father, what's happening?
The giant has escaped.
Leo. Go back to your room. It's not safe.
How could he have escaped
after all this time?
He had the keys, my lord.
Then someone helped him.
Someone betrayed us.
A madman. Only a madman
would help a giant with no heart.
It's starting again.
Leo, I said get back to your room.
- Poor boy.
- That's right. "Someone betrayed us."
"Only a madman would help a giant
with no heart."
The boy's face swam with tears.
So let down, he felt. So stupid.
And from that moment, the boy in him
the innocent heart, the joy in him
they were gone
like his friend, and
they would never return.
- Brother, where are you going?
- I am going to get back the giant.
- Now, wish me luck and get back to bed.
- Good luck.
I'm sorry.
But his brother didn't hear.
He'd gone to find the giant
and he didn't come back.
Brother, where are you going?
- To find our brother and to kill
the giant. - But he'll trick you.
Wish me luck.
Terrible, our boy felt,
as his brother rode off. Terrible.
And this brother didn't come back either.
Mother?
Your father says
he intends to go off to fight the giant.
He can't. He mustn't.
I've lost two sons already.
He's too old. He's too ill.
- Don't cry.
- Leo, promise me you won't ever go.
But he can't promise. How can he?
Were it not for him
the heartless giant would still be chained
and locked and safe in the dungeon.
No, he did the damage, he must repair it.
So, off, madness, off, folly
off, for goodness sake,
to find the giant
and put an end to his cruelty.
And so the young prince Leo
rides the land
in search of his once-friend,
the heartless giant.
Three winters come and go
their bitter shiver
until, one day, he comes to a place
and knows
he's in the giant's cruel footsteps.
"Help me," cries a trampled bird.
"The giant broke me and now I cannot fly,
cannot eat. Help me."
And Leo tended the bird, fixed its wing,
fed it bread soaked in milk
and soon all was well with it.
"Thank you," cried the bird.
"If you need me, I shan't forget."
Not long after, he stops at a stream
and he hears a flapping,
hears a thrashing, hears a slapping.
"Help me," cries the choking fish.
"Help me back into the water.
"I'm stuck here, I'm stranded,
I'm beached-up and landed."
Now, Leo's famished, and he loves a fish
but he's suffered sufficient, this fellow.
Back he goes to where the salmon is king.
"Thank you," cries the fish.
I'd have scoffed him,
if he was so hungry. I like fish.
Would you? Listen.
He goes on a little further,
and now his horse gives up the ghost.
His old horse who's carried the prince
a 1,000 miles and more
sinks slowly to his knees
and rolls over on his side
and dies.
So did the prince eat his horse?
No, he didn't, he couldn't.
He lay down beside it,
famished and forlorn.
He shuts his eyes, squeezing back tears
drifting into dreams.
It's his mother nursing him.
Licking up his wet cheeks, hugging him.
Don't move. Terrible teeth glistening.
I've not eaten since the winter came.
Help me, let me eat your horse.
I'll eat it and be strong again.
Trust me.
But how can Leo trust anyone?
He's trusted before and been betrayed.
That's right. Let the wolf starve.
Please, or I must surely die.
No, don't do it.
Eat your fill. And if you must
then, afterwards, eat me.
And the wolf eats the horse
and sucks the bones
until there's not a scrap
left, save the reins.
Master, come here.
Oh, no.
- Am I to go now?
- Yes, us both.
I'll help you. On my back, sir.
Let's leave this place.
And he does and they do.
And they go a grey dash
a day and a night and a morning
until they come at last
to a garden full with statues.
Stone men, stone women
stone soldiers.
- This is my brother.
- This is the giant's work.
There is his house.
All who approach, he turns to stone.
Oh, no, look. You, too.
You're so cold.
The giant was my friend. He really was.
He's no one's friend.
He has no heart in his body.
Then I must find his heart.
Where did you get that drum?
It's mine. It's me, Leo.
Prince Leo?
Yes, it is you. I can see now.
Are you the same as your brothers
come to challenge me?
No, I come in guilt.
Either you will take me in,
or I must go into exile.
Guilty? About what? That you set me free?
You were a child.
I had to fool you to get the keys.
Otherwise, I'd still be there, rotting.
But stay if you like.
No tricks though, no traps.
Else you'll end up
the same as your brothers.
No tricks, no traps,
agreed the boy and went inside.
He's a servant now for the heartless giant.
For weeks he cleans, for weeks he scours
until spick where speck was,
and span where squalor.
Each evening,
the giant returns from his wild outings
to find the fire lit, the hearth swept,
and his trousers pressed.
He likes this. Very nice.
- Very nice.
- Thank you.
I should have had a servant before.
And I don't treat you bad, do I?
For a heartless giant?
So what happened to your heart?
It's in safekeeping.
Can't feel without it, can I?
Can't get hurt,
can't die from the breaking of it.
Clever. So where is it, then?
He who pries is prone to die.
Do you follow me?
Yes.
But I'll tell you if you want to know.
My heart's in that cupboard.
In the cupboard. His own heart pounds
and he can hardly wait until the morning.
But no heart. Oh, no.
The heart's not there at all.
I'm back.
Evening, sir.
- What's that smell?
- Polish.
What are you polishing
that old cupboard for?
It's the home of your heart,
it should be polished.
Did you really think
I kept my heart in a cupboard?
What a dimble.
- It's not there, then.
- Of course it's not.
I see.
It's under the step.
So the next morning, off
stomps the giant
and out goes our boy,
digging out the steps.
Stone, dust, roots
but no heart.
I'm back.
What's that?
You must have trodden on the step.
I painted it.
What a dafflebox.
You thought my heart was under the step.
- Have these off, then.
- Sir.
The fact is no one can find my heart.
I'll tell you exactly where it is
and you'll still not be able to find it.
Far away, so far you cannot fathom it
so high you cannot climb it, is a mountain.
And in the mountain is a lake,
and in the lake is an island
in the island is a church,
in the church is a well
in the well is a duck, in the
duck is an egg, and in the egg
is my heart.
I see.
No, not so easy, little thief
not such a diddle
and a doddle as you thought.
No. Your father tricked me once
and I shan't be tricked again.
An egg in a duck, in a well,
in a church, in an island, in a lake
in a mountain? Impossible.
But that night Leo steals away
and calls for his friend, the wolf.
Up he gets and tight he holds,
and off they go.
Headlong,
a breathless blur of world flashing by.
And they're at the mountain
clambering, scrambling
and then there's a lake,
and there's the church.
But the church is locked,
and the door will not budge.
"Look," said the wolf
and there, impossibly
high, dangled the key.
We'll never reach it.
Thank you, my friend.
And in they go, into the church
where they find the well.
And sure enough, in the well swims a duck.
Come on.
Oh, no.
Now what?
- What's that?
- It's the fish.
It's my fish.
- Catch it.
- I've got it. I've got the giant's heart.
Thank you, my friend. I've got it.
Where have you been?
I've a good mind to crack your ears.
I've a good mind
to set you there with your brothers.
Stop that.
Years ago, sir, you broke my heart.
Now I shall break yours.
No, be careful. Please don't break that.
I will, I will break it.
I will squeeze it and squeeze it to bits,
unless you release my brothers
and all these poor people.
Yes. I'll do anything you ask.
Look, I'm doing it.
There.
Brother, you've rescued us.
Praise the lord, our little brother.
- Now, quick, smash the egg.
- No. I'm going to give it back.
- Don't be stupid.
- I've done as you bid.
Can I have my heart?
You can, sir, as I promised.
For I know that with your heart in place
you could not be as you are now.
- No.
- Now, villain
for years I've stood here helpless,
and watched your cruelty.
The folk he's beaten. The vile murders.
Please, don't.
Kill him!
Like with like, spite with spite.
Don't! I promised!
All the pain you've caused, I now repay.
You promised.
What's happening?
There was a wasps' nest
where his heart should have been.
And where the giant fell, a hill grew.
And in time
and when much was long forgot
the place was still known
as the hill of the heartless giant.
But he would have changed, that giant.
He would've reformed with his heart back.
Yes, I know. Cruel.
But do you know,
Prince Leo lived to be a great age
became king, had 42 grandchildren
and he told them all that tale.
But in his story
the giant got back his heart
and made amends for all his wrongs.
Because, you see,
despite all that took place
a little boy once met a giant
and they became friends.